Why do I care so much about business resilience?

Fractional CIO | Digital Transformation | Executive AI Enablement | Speaker

Why do I care so much about business resilience?

The answer has very little to do with technology. It has everything to do with disruption.

As a student, I experienced the serious Loma Prieta earthquake while visiting family in Northern California. I'll never forget grabbing my baby cousin and sitting together in the doorway as the house shook around us.

Years later, I was in Thailand, en route to Malaysia, when the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. Our overnight bus took an unexpected detour that night. We only learned the reason at dawn.

Eighteen years ago, Hurricane Dean destroyed my family home. While many Jamaicans remember it as an offshore Category 4 hurricane, for those of us in Caribbean Terrace, it changed everything.

Each experience taught me the same lesson. Disruption doesn't book an appointment. It happens whether we're ready or not.

Thanks to the invitation to speak on the theme of Resilience, from the Scotiabank Women Initiative, I created and demonstrated the SmartNote2Self: Biz Resilience Scan. Earlier this year the Kingston event and demo gave me good feedback, and on Wednesday I had the pleasure of doing it again for Montego Bay.

In Montego Bay, the women entrepreneurs, and a few very supportive gentlemen, actively engaged with the assessment. My logs show that 66 plans were started and 32 actually completed during the session.

That was an important milestone.

It confirmed that resilience conversations don't have to begin with a consulting engagement. Sometimes they begin with simply twelve thoughtful questions.

Businesses can continue the journey with SmartNote2Self advisory services or take a do-it-yourself approach using the report as a wakeup call...a starting point. Either way, taking the first step is far better than not thinking about resilience at all.

Resilience shouldn't be a luxury reserved for large corporations. Small businesses and solopreneurs deserve clarity too.

Thank you to the Scotiabank Women Initiative for creating a space where entrepreneurs could begin these conversations together. Between the Kingston and Montego Bay events I was honoured to share the stage with Nadine Heywood, Sharnakae Stewart, CFA, Gail Whylie, Pamela Douglas and Aybarinee Campbell Mendez.

More businesses will become a little better prepared for whatever tomorrow brings, if they start the journey with a Biz Resilience Scan.

#SmartNote2Self #BusinessResilience #WomenInBusiness #BusinessContinuity #Jamaica #Scotiabank